Dipping a toe

[Daigga]

So I'm looking into breeding my own feeders. I haven't committed yet, but I currently have two female rats as a kind of trial. If I can keep them without too much obstruction (read; if my home doesn't smell nasty), I wouldn't mind having a small breeding colony. If not, that's two less frozen rats I have to deal with next week. So far I've already come up with some issues with these two individuals...

They're both fairly docile rats, but I keep hearing her sneeze and snuffle. This morning when I checked on them the bigger one had her eyes closed, looks like some kind of mucus was keeping them from opening easily. They opened after I held her for a bit, but I don't know what to make of that. I've only had them since Wednesday, and the one started the snuffling in the car home, so I don't think this was anything I did, but then I don't really know enough about rats to say for sure.

Should I scrap the breeding plans and just order bulk frozen online? Should I just scrap these two and aim for some healthier girls? Is the snuffling/mucus even something to worry about, or can it be easily fixed? They came from Petco, which I know isn't where I should be buying breeders, but I can't find any other places that sell rats anywhere near where I live.

[Madscrills]

Daiga,

As I'm fairly inexperienced in this hobby myself you should take any and all of my advice with a grain of salt or even less. That being said I hesitate to even comment on the rats condition at all. As I have no experience there to even try to give you a valid answer. I can however address the fact that you live in Dallas. I am only 2 hours south of you and know someone who breeds their own rats. I'm sure there are plenty nearby you as well. My recommendation would be to either seek a feeder breeder nearby on these forums or join a social media group and get to know your local breeders. I guarantee you'll find someone with better quality stock than petco.

That being said, I hope someone far more knowledgeable comes in to help you with your current two cases. Good luck!

[Lore]

Sneezing and snuffles along with increase in porphyrin (likely the mucus you are describing) are indicators of illness, stress or poor diet.

Porphyrin and Norway rats To the rat enthusiast, one porphyrin is of particular interest: the one that is secreted by the Harderian gland and appears around the rat's eyes. This red substance looks like red tears or blood, and can be startling to those who are unfamiliar with rats. Occasional low levels of porphyrin staining are normal, but regular large amounts of porphyrin indicate stress, sickness, or poor diet.



The overproduction of porphyrin in rats Rats sometimes produce profuse amounts of porphyrin in their Harderian gland secretions. The porphyrin-filled tears overflow the eye and dry on and around the eyelids, forming a dark red crust, a condition called chromodacryorrhea (KRO-mo-DAK-re-o-re-uh). The secretions drain from the eye into the nose, and once there may overflow the nostrils and dry around that area as well. The rat may then wipe the secretions with its paws, leading to red-stained paws and muzzles. Occasional small amounts of porphyrin are normal, but large, regular amounts indicate an underlying problem.
Rats overproduce porphyrin when they are stressed, ill, or poorly fed. Acute stress, such as limb restraint (Harkness and Ridgeway 1980), sleep deprivation (Hipolide and Tufik 1995), water deprivation (Figge and Atkinson 1945, but see Harkness and Ridgeway 1980), joint pain (Harper et al. 2001, Kerins et al. 2003), morphine withdrawal (Buccafusco 1990), acetylcholine injections (Harkness and Ridgeway 1980), and exposure to electric fields (Rommereim et al. 1990) have been found to cause chromodacryorrhea.
The onset of porphyrin overproduction after a stressor is variable. After injection with acetylcholine, for example, profuse amounts of porphyrin were secreted almost immediately and overflowed the eye to stain the eyelids within minutes. Rats experiencing limb restraint started producing copious amounts of porphyrin within 17-30 minutes (range 3-40 minutes). The larger the rat, the shorter its latency to produce porphyrin. In restrained rats, porphyrin was produced for about two hours, then it ceased (Harkness and Ridgeway 1980).
A number of diseases are also associated with the overproduction of porphyrin, such as corynebacterium, mycoplasmosis, salmonelliosis, and sialodacryoadenitis (SDA) (USF Div. Comp. Med. PDF ref). Dietary deficiencies may cause porphyrin overproduction as well (Sakai 1981).
These lists are not comprehensive, but rather go to show that porphyrin overproduction is a non-specific response to stress, pain, disease, or poor diet.

Source: http://www.ratbehavior.org/porphyrin.htm


This is likely a myco infection, but I am not a vet and it could be something more serious.

Suggested Links for Myco and Treatment Options
http://ratguide.com/health/bacteria/...oplasmosis.php
http://rathelp.org/raisinrats/medical/myco.html
http://www.rmca.org/Articles/myco.htm
http://www.ratfanclub.org/resp.html (Also gives information about where to order medications for myco infections.)

If you are not looking to treat the rats then you may want to go ahead at PTS/feed off these two and get rats from a different source. I live in Southeast Texas and would be willing to provide a few rats to get your line started as soon as they are weaned, if you would be willing to make the drive. If not, I am sure there are other breeders around that area. If I see any, I will let you know.